is this sentence correct His patrols prevented the raiding parties. I have seen the book says that we can only use "prevent sb.from doing" and this sentence is wrong. Can we only say "prevent sb." as

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is this sentence correct His patrols prevented the raiding parties. I have seen the book says that we can only use "prevent sb.from doing" and this sentence is wrong. Can we only say "prevent sb." as a whole sentence? Is this sentence grammatically wrong？

Feb 22, 2014 11:49 AM

Answers · 6

The sentence makes sense. I'm not sure of the rule, but the someone could be considered the raiding parties. And actually I would use to prevent without needing to prevent sb. I speak u.s. English so it could depend on dialect.

February 22, 2014

I think you're right. You could see the sentence as being as shorter way of saying "His patrols prevented the raiding parties (from happening/succeeding/occurring)", but I think many people would feel there should be something else after the sentence, because of the word "preventing", which implies a "from..." clause.

February 22, 2014

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